Harber used an alias to run a Super PAC in addition to working on a congressional campaign in 2012.

His transgressions happened before David Clements had began his campaign for U.S. Senate in New Mexico. The violations happened during his time as campaign manager for Chris Perkins, a Republican from Virginia in the 2012 election cycle.

“While working as the campaign manager for Chris Perkins, a Virginia Republican who ran unsuccessfully against Rep. Gerry Connolly, D, in 2012, Harber was also directing a super PAC that supported Perkins and funneling money to himself and a family member, among other violations,” the Sunlight Foundation wrote.

“The Department of Justice is fully committed to addressing the threat posed to the integrity of federal primary and general elections by coordinated campaign contributions, and will aggressively pursue coordination offenses at every appropriate opportunity,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell said in the statement announcing the plea.

Harber admitted that he solicited contributions for a Super PAC he ran, under the alias, to campaign contributors who had already made the maximum legal campaign donation to Perkins.

Harber served on the staff of Clements’ campaign for U.S. Senate last year.

Clements ran as a libertarian Republican and lost to Allen Weh in the Republican primary. Clements was an outsider, though he was the chairman of the Dona Ana County Republican Party, and was outspent massively by Weh.

Other candidates that employed Harber were similarly long-shot candidates.

From the DOJ, here is exactly what Harber pleaded guilty to:

Harber admitted, among other things, that he made and directed coordinated expenditures by the PAC to influence the election with $325,000 of political advertising opposing a rival candidate. The coordination of expenditures made them illegal campaign contributions to the authorized committee of Harber’s candidate, and Harber admitted that he knew this coordination of expenditures was an unlawful means of contributing money to a campaign committee. He further admitted that he used an alias and other means to conceal his action from inquiries by an official of the same political party as Harber’s candidate.

Harber further admitted that he told multiple lies when interviewed by the FBI concerning his activities.

State Rep. Bobby Gonzales shook his head from side to side after listening to all the suggestions about how to meet a judge's order to provide more resources to New Mexico children who, in the court's view, are not receiving a good public education. "About 15 different ideas," the Democrat from Taos said following a hearing on the topic last week in the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.

A recently-minor political party in New Mexico may being seeing its first indication of political growing pains. At the very least, the Libertarian Party of New Mexico has shown that even a once-fringe party is not immune from accusations of impropriety.

New Mexico’s Republican gubernatorial candidate wants the U.S. Department of Justice to hold 2016 presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accountable for an email scandal that dates back to nearly a decade ago. Without offering many details, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, who is giving up his congressional seat to run for New Mexico governor, said in a radio interview last week he does not think the DOJ—specifically U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions—is doing enough to take Clinton to task for the way she reportedly handled classified email messages while Secretary of State.

State Rep. Bobby Gonzales shook his head from side to side after listening to all the suggestions about how to meet a judge's order to provide more resources to New Mexico children who, in the court's view, are not receiving a good public education.

Matthew Reichbach is the editor of the NM Political Report. The former founder and editor of the NM Telegram, Matthew was also a co-founder of New Mexico FBIHOP with his brother and one of the original hires at the groundbreaking website the New Mexico Independent. Matthew has covered events such as the Democratic National Convention and Netroots Nation and formerly published, “The Morning Word,” a daily political news summary for NM Telegram and the Santa Fe Reporter.
Matthew has appeared as a panelist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ New Mexico Chapter’s panel on covering New Mexico politics and the legislature.
A native New Mexican from Rio Rancho, Matthew’s family has been in New Mexico since the 1600s.